By MELINDA DESLATTE
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana's budget picture has grown bleaker. The state's revenue forecasting panel dropped income estimates by $129 million, creating a midyear deficit.
Gov. Bobby Jindal's chief budget adviser, Kristy Nichols, says she will present a plan for cuts to lawmakers Friday, to rebalance the budget.
Most vulnerable to slashing are public colleges and health care services.
It's the fifth year in a row that the state has had to close a midyear gap.
The Revenue Estimating Conference made sizable cuts Thursday in the projections for individual income and sales taxes and for revenue from oil and gas.
Next year's budget forecast also worsened, with the panel dropping income estimates $207 million, leaving lawmakers with a nearly $1.2 billion budget gap to close in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
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